Abstract

The case of a 10-year old Caucasian boy operated for correction of congenital bilateral ptosis is described. The picture of a malignant hyperthermia complicated with disseminated intravascular coagulation was seen during the surgery, almost twenty minutes after inhalational volatile anesthesia started. The patient was pronounced dead after the third episode of cardiac arrest that did not responded to electrical conversion. Microscopic and macroscopic findings of the autopsy are described as well, with diffuse bleeding and extravasation in almost all vital organs and body cavities. A discussion on the triggering factors and neuromuscular disorders that are particularly prone to get complicated with imputed anesthetic agents is made, with special referral to similar cases found in the literature, since such a complication was initially reported.